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Towers Loving Care

Benzin said:
When used appropriately, screens can do things that physical effects alone cannot do...

There is place for both in the industry...
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I tend to agree with you yes but there is, at Merlin at least, far too much reliance on screens over physical effects.
 
Im thinking something like this, relatively cheap, can be bought for homes these days for Halloween , projects images onto a very fine black mesh so it would be invisible in the house itself. Obviously, it would need to be something relevant and timed with the cars going past, or they could just have it running all the time - such as ghosts walking around the garden area with a bit of mist....

 
As much as I like projections and screens they always look a bit jarring. If they projected videos of ghosts played by real people it'd look strange against the cartoonish animatronics and set design. If they could find a way to make something like that fit in with the rest of the ride's style it'd look fab
 
IanSR said:
I tend to agree with you yes but there is, at Merlin at least, far too much reliance on screens over physical effects.
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Whilst I think that's true, the quality of some of their physical effects and sets are astonishing.

Derren's Dissapointment Express might have fallen flat on some fronts but the sets used in the ride are tremendous. The carriage is one of the most audacious things done in a UK park since Valhalla.
 
GaryH said:
Im thinking something like this, relatively cheap, can be bought for homes these days for Halloween , projects images onto a very fine black mesh so it would be invisible in the house itself. Obviously, it would need to be something relevant and timed with the cars going past, or they could just have it running all the time - such as ghosts walking around the garden area with a bit of mist....

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Depressing that we're having to collectively suggest cheap consumer tat for what is supposed to be an experience that you pay to see cutting edge examples of.
 
Yeah the whole point of the Haunted House was that it was bespoke effects, simple animations but done on a huge scale in a theatrical and unpredictable way. Not an assortment of off the shelf Halloween stuff.

Most the zombies and effects added in 2003 by Tussauds Studios were bought online from an American halloween shop, ha ha!

Bear in mind it was the first big thing Tussauds did to regenerate the park as a high quality and enchanting place, along with building Nemesis shortly after. It was one of the biggest dark rides in Europe at the time and one of the park's most popular family attractions until its decline.

My point is Duel wasn't always the standard ghost train we know today and has become that way through neglect and years of low budget changes. If Tussauds had wanted a tacky ghost train from the start, they could have built one much more easily.
 
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Dave said:
Plus projectors for mapping are very high spec so not cheap, you only have to look at the Smiler to see what happens when you go for budget.
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Vibration caused movement would not be an issue as duel does not have a coaster shaking the room.

Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk
 
Dave said:
Plus projectors for mapping are very high spec so not cheap, you only have to look at the Smiler to see what happens when you go for budget.
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That's not necessarily true. Any projector can be used for mapping, it all depends on the size of the area and distance.

When you need to project across something massive like a cathedral from 100m away, then yes you're gonna need high end stuff like multiple 20,000 lumen Christie projectors using unimaginably expensive lenses, the correct mounting hardware and sophisticated control systems which edge-blend all of the screens to make one giant seemless image.

In the Smilers case though, they're using projectors comparable to what you'd buy for a nice home cinema set up, and they're fine because they work individually without edge blending, but the problem is they aren't locked down properly with proper mounting hardware. Vibrations coming from the ride above just knock them out of alignment straightaway.

...and there's also the cost of replacement lamps. I mean if they can't afford to keep fog machines topped up with cheap juice then they aren't going to replace projector lamps are they?

I wouldn't actually begrudge Towers using some simple projection set ups like that in Duel. It could work nicely and they wouldn't have to worry about vibrations this time around. Even if it was just some singing heads like in the Haunted Mansion. Nice little budget effect.

All depends how creative the creative team are. How about some screaming and dancing tombstones instead? Anybody could do that with a Raspberry Pi, cheap projector, and some Polystyrene sheet for about £200.

Does anybody here remember the screaming jellyfish in the Haunted House? That was one of the coolest, super low budget effects I've ever seen. Would be nice to see it come back.
 
Towers' should take a leaf out of Fantasy Island's book; The projection-mapping on the mountain is incredible!
 
PeteB said:
Does anybody here remember the screaming jellyfish in the Haunted House? That was one of the coolest, super low budget effects I've ever seen.
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That really was just one of the cheapo effects added by Towers in house though, probably by en engineering technician on his lunch break as an experiment.

All the spiders from that area were removed to free up space for them too, which kind of dumbed down the scene because it had no build up anymore. Not what the ride suited really but yeah kind of nifty budget effect?
 
delta79 said:
Vibration caused movement would not be an issue as duel does not have a coaster shaking the room.

Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk
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Fair point but I’m thinking more the amount of use they will be put through plus the HD level but I’m not going to pretend to be a projector expert.
 
PeteB said:
That's not necessarily true. Any projector can be used for mapping, it all depends on the size of the area and distance.

When you need to project across something massive like a cathedral from 100m away, then yes you're gonna need high end stuff like multiple 20,000 lumen Christie projectors using unimaginably expensive lenses, the correct mounting hardware and sophisticated control systems which edge-blend all of the screens to make one giant seemless image.

In the Smilers case though, they're using projectors comparable to what you'd buy for a nice home cinema set up, and they're fine because they work individually without edge blending, but the problem is they aren't locked down properly with proper mounting hardware. Vibrations coming from the ride above just knock them out of alignment straightaway.

...and there's also the cost of replacement lamps. I mean if they can't afford to keep fog machines topped up with cheap juice then they aren't going to replace projector lamps are they?

I wouldn't actually begrudge Towers using some simple projection set ups like that in Duel. It could work nicely and they wouldn't have to worry about vibrations this time around. Even if it was just some singing heads like in the Haunted Mansion. Nice little budget effect.

All depends how creative the creative team are. How about some screaming and dancing tombstones instead? Anybody could do that with a Raspberry Pi, cheap projector, and some Polystyrene sheet for about £200.

Does anybody here remember the screaming jellyfish in the Haunted House? That was one of the coolest, super low budget effects I've ever seen. Would be nice to see it come back.
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Warwick Castle used this cheap projection onto pumpkins at Halloween and it looked awesome

 
jack_s said:
Warwick Castle used this cheap projection onto pumpkins at Halloween and it looked awesome

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Very basic, aka halloween home haunt, but still nice.

electricBill said:
That really was just one of the cheapo effects added by Towers in house though, probably by en engineering technician on his lunch break as an experiment.

All the spiders from that area were removed to free up space for them too, which kind of dumbed down the scene because it had no build up anymore. Not what the ride suited really but yeah kind of nifty budget effect?
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I agree it's a shame to remove higher quality sets/effects but I remember the year they were new, and I got quite a shock. Was probably more do with how loud the sound effect was though lol.
 
The worrying thing about these updates is that having not been for a few years the main takeaway I get from the pictures is just how bad a state the park had got into before action was taken. I know I’ve made this point before but with every new photo the feeling comes back. I now can’t help but think that if the standards had never been allowed to slip the people that had to work hard to restore the old could have instead been finding ways to improve it.
 
Tim said:
The worrying thing about these updates is that having not been for a few years the main takeaway I get from the pictures is just how bad a state the park had got into before action was taken. I know I’ve made this point before but with every new photo the feeling comes back. I now can’t help but think that if the standards had never been allowed to slip the people that had to work hard to restore the old could have instead been finding ways to improve it.
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I’m in the same boat as you for various reasons I haven’t made it to the park since June 16 - it was shocking then so much be filthy now - it’s only when you see it in Picture you realise how bad things are
 
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